CAMPAIGN group This is Rigged has said that four people have been arrested after protesters took items from a Sainsbury’s store and held a “picnic” on the shop floor.

The group, some of whom are from Glasgow and Airdrie, picked up baskets and filled them with picnic items before laying banners on the ground and then sat on them like a blanket.

They took a number of items including bread, jam, fruit, meal deals, coffee, tea and biscuits before eating them in a circle on the floor.

The protest started around 10am, with the group saying police escorted them from the store before arresting four people.   

This is Rigged have vowed to continue to escalate actions amid rising living costs and stagnating wages. 

The group say that certain Sainsbury's stores have implemented exit barriers, meaning customers have to scan their receipt in order to leave. 

Last year, the group released two new demands - that supermarkets reduce prices of essential goods such as baby formula, and that the Scottish Government commit to establishing, funding and maintaining a community hub per 500 households across the country. 

Speaking about why they took action, one protester said: "Emerging from lockdown and being plunged straight into another emergency came with the realisation for me that we have always been in a state of emergency to protect our basic rights. 

"I've been goaded into action by our government's assumption that we will forget that the power they wield in tangible and capable of impacting our daily lives and supermarkets that assume that we won't notice the enormous profits and bonuses they have made under the guise of inflation. 

"The greatest hope I've found is the motion of ordinary people against greed and hypocrisy."

The "picnic" comes as one of many actions this month, including stealing a number of food items such as potato scones, bread, roses and other goods from various supermarkets. 

A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: “Around 11.05am on Wednesday, February 28, 2024, police were called to a report of a protest within a supermarket in Waverley Mall, Edinburgh.

“Officers attended and two men and two women have been arrested in connection with the incident and enquiries are continuing.”